diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 53e2e68..d700e33 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- a test fails when either `hashWorker` cancellation check in `scan.go`
+  is removed (2026-10-04, https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/83)
+
 - a test fails when either walk cancellation check in `scan.go` is
   removed (2026-10-04, https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/sfdupes/issues/81)
 
diff --git a/cancel_test.go b/cancel_test.go
index 8723bb4..ed0525e 100644
--- a/cancel_test.go
+++ b/cancel_test.go
@@ -729,47 +729,77 @@ func TestFeedHashJobsClosesJobsWhenCancelled(t *testing.T) {
 // TestHashWorkerDropsQueuedRuns checks that a cancelled hash worker
 // keeps reading jobs and drops the runs rather than reading files
 // nobody wants the hashes of — while still letting the range run out
-// so the pool tears down. The queued run names a file that does not
-// exist, so a worker that hashed it anyway would produce a result.
-//
-// hashWorker's other cancellation exit, abandoning the send of a
-// result, is reachable from the scan: stop cancels the pool before it
-// drains results, so a worker waiting on that send can leave through
-// it. The tests that stop a scan mid-hash, among them
-// TestScanHashWriteFailureUnwindsPool, reach it in some runs only,
-// depending on timing, and no test fails without it, since stop's
-// drain frees a waiting worker anyway. This test, for its part, catches
-// a removed drop check in some runs only: a worker that hashes the run
-// anyway then picks at random between sending the result and leaving.
+// so the pool tears down. The hash function only records that it was
+// called, so a worker that hashed the queued run anyway is caught
+// every time.
 func TestHashWorkerDropsQueuedRuns(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
 	done := make(chan struct{})
 	jobs := make(chan []fileRec, 1)
-	results := make(chan hashResult, 1)
+	results := make(chan hashResult)
 
-	run := []fileRec{{path: filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "missing"), size: 1}}
-
-	jobs <- run
+	jobs <- []fileRec{{path: "a", size: 1}}
 
 	close(jobs)
 
+	var hashed atomic.Bool
+
+	hash := func(string, int64) (string, string, string, error) {
+		hashed.Store(true)
+
+		return "", "", "", nil
+	}
+
 	go func() {
 		defer close(done)
 
-		hashWorker(cancelledContext(t), jobs, results, hashSignature)
+		hashWorker(cancelledContext(t), jobs, results, hash)
 	}()
 
 	awaitReturn(t, done, "hashWorker")
 
-	select {
-	case r := <-results:
-		t.Errorf("cancelled hash worker produced %+v, want the run dropped",
-			r)
-	default:
+	if hashed.Load() {
+		t.Error("cancelled hash worker hashed the queued run, want it dropped")
 	}
 }
 
+// TestHashWorkerAbandonsBlockedSend checks that a hash worker with a
+// result to deliver and nobody to deliver it to leaves once the scan
+// is cancelled, instead of holding the pool open. The scan tests do
+// not catch this: stop drains results, which frees a parked worker
+// anyway.
+func TestHashWorkerAbandonsBlockedSend(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(t.Context())
+	defer cancel()
+
+	done := make(chan struct{})
+	jobs := make(chan []fileRec, 1)
+	// Unbuffered and unread, with jobs left open: the worker's only way
+	// out is the cancellation case beside its send.
+	results := make(chan hashResult)
+
+	jobs <- []fileRec{{path: "a", size: 1}}
+
+	// The scan is cancelled while the worker hashes, so the worker has
+	// already passed the check that drops queued runs.
+	hash := func(string, int64) (string, string, string, error) {
+		cancel()
+
+		return "", "", "", nil
+	}
+
+	go func() {
+		defer close(done)
+
+		hashWorker(ctx, jobs, results, hash)
+	}()
+
+	awaitReturn(t, done, "hashWorker")
+}
+
 // TestHashPhaseCancelledReturnsContextError checks the result loop's
 // own exit: with the pool cancelled, no result will ever arrive, and
 // the loop must leave through the cancellation rather than wait for a